Squib
by Jelly28
Summary: Rachel is a squib. She's never fit in the wizarding world nor the muggle one. And now she's being made to go to hogwarts for a fortnight. Adventure, friendship, bullying, romance etc.


**Squib **

**Chapter 1**

Rachel knocked gingerly on the largish mahogany coloured door and stood beside it patiently, waiting for someone to answer. It was a while before she remembered she needed to say the password.

"Dewdrop", Rachel said quickly, feeling extremely stupid, and the door swung open.

Before she even walked through the door, a warm, sweet jumble of smells surrounded her. The combination was gorgeous, but she couldn't pinpoint one particular scent. It was like orange and cloves but then lavender, pine, cherry blossom, rose-

"Rachel!" Rachel's eyes snapped open to see Hermione walking up to her and beaming. "Come in!"

Rachel followed Hermione slowly into the bathroom, barely registering the door swing shut behind her. As soon as Hermione had moved aside to reveal the inside of the room, all thoughts of the scent were driven from her mind as she stared around in wonder. It was stunning.

A hundred candles balanced upon a chandelier bathed the room in a soft glimmering light. Most of the room was taken up by an enormous marble bath, which was already filled with steaming water, and numerous bubbles of all colours and sizes, a number of which had taken to float around the room. Two girls were already in the water: one bobbing up and down near the side, and laughing at her friend who was floating on a large mound of foamy white bubbles.

The floor and walls, like the bath, were a white marble but when Rachel put her hand on the wall closest to her, it was warm. The wide path of marble which surrounded the bath was taken up by more chattering girls: some sitting on wooden stools, wrapped in white fluffy towels, and others examining themselves in mirrors, poking wands at their hair, or trying to apply makeup under the warm orange glow of candlelight. Soft string music could just be heard underneath the sound of the girls, though the audibility was aided slightly by a painted mermaid hanging on the wall, who was smoothing her scales whilst loudly humming along.

At the far side of the pool was a small diving board, on which stood a fairly pretty blonde girl in a pink bikini. She smiled nervously before jumping off of the board, and displaying a perfect swan dive.

"That's Hannah Abbot", said Hermione who had also watched the dive. "She's in Hufflepuff."

Rachel nodded. She knew the names of the Hogwarts houses. With a tiny pang of regret, she remembered when she was younger, and her dad had first told her about them. She had been so thrilled wondering which house she would belong to. Whether she would be a Ravenclaw, as her Dad had been, or a Griffindor, like her mum.

Then you've got Padma Patel, from Ravenclaw", Hermione continued, oblivious to Rachel's glum recollection, and pointing towards an Asian girl sitting beside the pool. "And Pansy Parkinson". Hermione motioned towards the far side of the room with noticeable distaste. "She's Slytherin". A girl wrapped in one of the towels sat on a wooden stool, muttering to a tall, older, red haired girl sitting next to her. Pansy had short black hair, though she had a straighter and harder cut than Rachel's, and her expression held an unflattering scowl. The red-haired girl whispered something in Pansy's ear, and she looked up. Right at Rachel.

"And that's all the prefects in my year", concluded Hermione, whilst Rachel continued to stare back unflinchingly at Pansy. "Well, the girls anyway. The boy's bathroom is a different room but looks exactly the same, apparently. Same door and everything. But they have a different password, you see. I think it must be some sort of disillusionment charm, though it's really quite amazing how just a password can decide…" Hermione trailed off, noticing that Rachel was unaware of anything she was saying.

"Rachel, are you alright?" She asked, snapping Rachel out of her thoughts.

"Sorry", she said, turning back to face Hermione, "Um, what were you saying?"

But Hermione was far from stupid. She looked to the far side of the bathroom, where Rachel had been staring, just in time to see the redhead stand up.

"Hey!" She yelled, "Oi! Squib!" Rachel's head snapped up as both of the girls dissolved into shrieks of laughter. Most of the room's occupants were staring at Rachel now. The room slowly went quiet, until all that could be heard was the classical music, and the two girls sniggering. Even the mermaid had stopped humming. Rachel stood there, blushing in anger. She had no idea what to do. She wanted to shout clever insults at them, or, in a happy alternate reality, whip out a wand and jinx them both. But neither of these options were possible. Normally, Rachel would have told them both to get lost by now. But she was new here. She didn't know the girls, or anybody really, so she wasn't about to shout, "Yeah, I'm a squib. Deal with it." That would just confirm matters for not only the two sniggering idiots, but the rest of the girls as well.

Rachel opened her mouth, and then closed it again, before feeling a hand on her arm. Hermione was smiling at her. "Come and meet Padma", she said quietly, and led Rachel over to the Asian girl. Thankfully, and Rachel was eternally grateful to her for it, Padma took things all in her stride. She smiled at Rachel, and, ignoring the silence and Rachel's somewhat flushed face, introduced herself, and asked how long Rachel was staying at Hogwarts. "Just for a couple of weeks", Rachel answered quietly. "cool!" smiled padma, before beginning a conversation on what her dress for tonight was like. Slowly, the room regained its former state. The chatter and laughter increased among the girls, Hannah came over to talk to them, and it was not long before Rachel relaxed again. The only girls who did not immediately regain cheerful conversation were Pansy and her friend. For a while, they sat in the corner, often glancing at Rachel and giggling, but, to Rachel's relief, they did not make any more public comments.

After a couple of minutes talking to Padma, Rachel found they got on pretty well. Padma was a lively person. To begin with, her description of the dress she was to wear that night was quite matter of fact, but as soon as the room began to brighten up again, she became more open: excitedly showing them the beautiful golden dress she had purchased for only ten galleons and chatting with enthusiasm. Hermione, after she seemed satisfied that the two girls were getting along fine, politely excused herself and wandered over to one of the large mirrors to style her hair.

After a while, Hannah swam to the edge of the bath and came to join Rachel and Padma. She was very quiet, however, and after introducing herself, she stood awkwardly alongside the two girls, smiling now and then but often staring back at the pool rather than joining in with the conversation. Rachel wondered if Hannah was embarrassed by the fact that she could not do magic. It had happened often enough in the past. Wizards and witches didn't seem to know how to act around her. Whether to be sympathetic, and not mention the word 'wand' or whether to go ahead and use magic in front of her anyway, despite her 'condition'. Rachel understood that they didn't want her to feel like she was being treated differently, but didn't they realize that it was partly the way people tried so _hard_ not to offend her that _made_ her feel like the outcast?

"Are you alright?" Rachel finally asked, turning towards Hannah.

But Hannah simply blushed a little; assured Rachel she was fine, before gabbling something about time flying and her hair. "Bye then", murmured Rachel, as Hannah made her escape, speeding off towards the collection of towels.

Rachel sighed and turned back to Padma. But Padma had not noticed Hannah go. When Hannah had mentioned the time, she had checked her watch, and was now staring at it in shock. Wide-eyed, she raised her head. "It's 6:30 already", She whispered, horrified. "We've only got an hour, and I haven't even had a bath yet…my hair, my outfit, I was going to try that charm but I won't have time now, and- oh! she exclaimed suddenly, breaking the dismayed ramble and stopping dead. "I said I'd meet Parvati fifteen minutes before it started so we could go down together to meet the boys!" She ran her fingers through her hair, before pacing up and down, head buried in hands. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

Rachel tried hastily to calm her down. "Look, an hours loads of time to do all that," she lied, trying to keep her voice as soothing as possible. "Have a bath now, that won't take long, and I'm sure Hermione or someone can help you with your hair…" Rachel trailed off, unsure if Padma had even heard her. But Padma had stopped pacing and took her hands away from her face. It seemed Rachel's words had had an effect, as she took a few deep breaths, before picking up her wand. "Ok", she muttered, to herself it seemed. "Right. Got 45 minutes. More I guess, if I ask someone to pass a message to Parvati. So, 15 minute bath and hair wash, charm should take another 15 minutes, if I'm really quick, though I did practice it early and maybe Hermione can help if she's finished, I'll have to ask her to stay…then that's another 15 minutes to get changed and go down there…ok, ok, don't panic. Got to be quick. Ok. Bath."

Rachel stood watching, slightly wary. Padma was rushing around, pulling things out of her bag and looking like she could break down any second. But then Padma stopped, wand in hand, and it seemed that she did have things under control. Or at least, she appeared together enough to perform complex spells, as she muttered a charm, tapped herself on the head and at once her Hogwarts robes were replaced by a blue bikini. Padma's robes lay on the floor, neatly folded by her bag. Rachel stood for a few seconds, momentarily stunned. Hermione had told her that Padma was in Ravenclaw, but Rachel enough about magic from home to know this was still a really advanced spell. "Where did you learn that?" She asked Padma, amazed.

"Oh", said Padma, looking like she was trying not to feel too proud of herself. "Well, mum taught it to me one weekend. Thought it might be useful, you know…"

Rachel nodded, still quite taken aback. "You're…really good at magic."

But Padma shook her head. "No, I'm quite clever I guess, but I'll never be as good as Hermione". She glanced over to the mirror, where Hermione was tackling her bushy hair with a pot of some hair product and her wand. There was a tinge of envy in Padma's voice when she spoke. "She's not even in Ravenclaw, you know. Got put in Griffindor because she's brave and stuff as well, I guess." She glanced back at Rachel. "Er, Griffindor and Ravenclaw, they're houses here…"

Rachel smiled faintly. "Yeah, I know. Dad- he was a Ravenclaw. Really clever and everything." Rachel tried to speak lightly, but couldn't help feeling a bit of a dip in her spirits at the reminder that she didn't go to Hogwarts.

There was a moment's silence before Padma gestured to the pool. "Are you going to take a bath?" Rachel shook her head. "I would, but I didn't bring a costume or anything."

But Padma smiled. "No problem!" And she tapped Rachel on the head, just as she had done to herself and said, "induvius mutare!"

Rachel hardly noticed anything had happened, the spell was so instantaneous; but when she looked down she saw she was wearing a lilac bikini. "Thank you!" She said to Padma, still feeling amazed at the way her clothes had managed to fold themselves neatly in a pile next to Padma's robes.

As soon as she slid into the enormous bath, Padma swam over to the taps in a far corner and beckoned to Rachel, who followed. "Ok", she said quickly, "now I've only got ten minutes in here, but I just wanted to show you this". She turned the top of one of the taps, and a bubble the size of a tennis ball floated slowly out of it. The bubble was a light pink colour, and appeared to be lit somehow from the inside. It cast a pink glow over the surface of the water as it floated away to hover over the bath some way away. As soon as it stopped to hover, another bubble formed from the tap, this time orange like the candlelight, and floated away to a different part of the bath. Padma watched it go dreamily. "Aren't they beautiful," she sighed. "I think it's my favourite tap." Rachel smiled; bobbing slightly in the warm water and also watching the bubbles cast out their soft glow over the shining surface of the water. It was almost hypnotising, floating in that bath, watching the bubbles and breathing in the soft perfumes. But Padma hadn't forgotten about her previous urgency. After only a minute, she snapped out of the trance and nudged Rachel.

"Sorry," she said, "But I really need to get ready. I'll just tell you which taps are which." She pointed to the far side of the bath, opposite them. "That corner is all shampoos. And over there", she pointed to part of the row of taps near where Pansy and the other girl had been sitting. They had gone to change. "Is all liquid soap."

Rachel stared at her. "How do you remember all that? The taps all look identical!" Padma shrugged and smiled, before swimming over to the soaps. Rachel, not being in as much of a rush as Padma, stayed to try out a few of the taps. But none of them seemed to work very well. The water didn't gush out, but trickled. Rachel wondered if the bath was bewitched to stop itself overflowing, as it was almost full to the brim. But then again, maybe the school just had problems with the plumbing. Either way, it wasn't much fun watching the- however scented- water drip slowly out of the taps. So, not before long, Rachel swam to the side, took a flannel from by the towels, and went to join Padma. At first they washed in silence, Rachel respecting the fact that Padma did have a quarter of an hour less than her to get ready. But, when they went over to the shampoos, Rachel couldn't resist asking. "So, what's your date like?"

The rush with which Padma had been shampooing her hair vanished almost instantly. Such a dreamy look came over her face that Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, he's wonderful," Padma sighed happily. " Anthony Goldstein. He's in my year- he's the other Ravenclaw prefect. It was really romantic how he asked me to go to the party with him, too. He sent this owl down to the breakfast table. It was a lovely thing- all snowy white. It had this pink letter in its mouth, but the letter was smoking at the corners. I thought it was a howler at first- so I went to open it, but it exploded before I could, and confetti went everywhere, and instead of the angry voice you usually get, you know, with howlers, it was Anthony's voice asking me to the ball, and then I looked up across the table and he was sitting there smiling hopefully at me and I said yes." Padma's voice drifted off happily and she lent back in the pool, massaging her hair more slowly, smiling into the distance.

Rachel turned back to the taps and smiled to herself. It seemed a bit over the top to her: the confetti and enveloped voice when Anthony had only been sitting a few seats away, but it seemed like he had known exactly what Padma had wanted: she looked thrilled at the memory of it. Rachel turned on a tap and a blob of grass-green shampoo fell out of the tap onto her hand. It wasn't the most inviting of colours but it had a lovely sweet, apple-like smell. As she shampooed her hair, Rachel wondered if everyone going would have a partner. She was bound to look like an idiot- and stand out even more- wandering around on her own while everyone else was dancing and spending time with their dates. Was there any point in going at all? Rachel considered it for a moment, before deciding dully that she would have to. Apart from having nothing else to do, and her dress all ready, she knew that it would reflect badly on her father to not turn up. He needed to make a good impression on the school and other guests, she knew that, and it would also be just plain rude not to go, after all Dumbledore had done to accommodate them both.

As the girls finished in the bath, and made to get out, Pansy and the red-haired girl walked out of a side room, both dressed and ready. Pansy was wearing a dark pink dress with a very puffy skirt. The other girl was dressed in a silky, shiny golden dress. The girl smirked down at Rachel as she passed. "Oh dear, still not ready," she sighed shaking her head. "You two had better hurry up."

"Yeah", added Pansy from behind her. "Let us help you. I'll get your dress." And she pointed her wand at Rachel's bag, said gleefully, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The bag soared into the air, and Rachel had barely time to stare at it in horror, before Pansy whisked her wand to the direction of the pool and let the bag plunge into it with an enormous splash. "See you round, muggle!" Yelled Pansy, and the two girls ran from the room in hysterics.

Rachel swam as fast as she could over to her bag and seized it out of the water before it sank to the bottom. It was drenched. Her insides suddenly felt as heavy as lead, with the knowledge that her bag contained not only her dress but her shoes, wash bag, her watch, her diary… She swam quickly back past the stunned Padma and flung the bag onto the side of the pool. Rachel didn't waste time examining her bag. Instead, she scrambled out of the pool and raced to the door of the bathroom. She flung it open and ran out into the corridor, her insides boiling with anger and hurt, ready to rage at those girls. But of course the corridor was deserted. And Rachel was angry, but she wasn't about to go running around the corridors of the school in nothing but a bikini.

Feeling defeated, she returned to Padma and shut the door behind her. Apart from one older girl at the far side of the room, Rachel and Padma were the only ones left in the bathroom now. Hermione had left to get changed in her dormitory, promising to meet them at the dance, and Hannah, along with the older prefects, had left some time ago. Padma was out of the pool now, and was tentatively taking out Rachel's soaked belongings from her bag. The dress was the first to come out. It was a looked like a bundle of sopping rags. It was completely drenched, and had changed colour from the pale pink, almost white, to a wet greyish colour.

Rachel felt a lump rise into her throat at the sight of it. But that wasn't the only casualty. Padma was now taking out Rachel's shoes, her hair band and her make-up bag, all of which looked ruined. Her mirror and hairbrush were fine, if a little wet, but her notebook was devastated. Its cover was wet and had gone soft, and all the pages inside had turned to near mush. Rachel knelt down beside Padma and took the book. She flicked through it, full of dread, only to see that all her carefully thought out pages of poems, songs, stories were gone. The ink had smudged, and in some places, run right off the page. Rachel cursed herself inwardly for being so stupid as to bring it to a bathroom in the first place. But she hated Pansy and that other girl most of all. Knowing that no amount of magic would replace those pages of thoughts and memories, Rachel sadly placed the book next to her and looked back to the other objects. The dress was Rachel's second worry. How could she go to the ball in jeans and a plain t-shirt? But then again, how was she supposed to explain to her father that she couldn't go because her dress had got wet? She could imagine his reaction if he found out the reason. Rachel thought it was mainly because of her being a squib that he was so protective. Even that small act of bullying would set him off, and apart from him having other things to deal with, Rachel couldn't face the embarrassment of her father storming up to those girls and scolding them in front of everyone, as she knew he was bound to.

With a sinking feeling, Rachel put the dress back down and covered her face with her hands. What would she do? What _could_ she do? It was then that she felt a light breeze on her face. Rachel looked up to see Padma had taken out her wand and was making large swooping movements with it through the air. The wind began to get stronger, until it was so strong that Rachel had to turn away, her eyes watering. When it finally died down and Rachel's hair settled back down onto her shoulders, she looked to see Padma happily present her with her dress. Her beautiful, completely dry, dress. Rachel stared at it, stunned for a few seconds, before crying, 'Thank you thank you thank you!' and launching herself on Padma with a massive hug. 'You're such a star Padma- I don't know what I would have done!'

'It was nothing', Padma laughed, a little taken aback by the reaction, but she returned the hug.

By now, though, the ball was dangerously close, and as the girls stood back up, padma caught sight of her watch. 25 minutes!' she shrieked in utter horror, and after that it was all a mad rush of changing, applying makeup, spaying perfume, with no time for conversation.

At 6:25, when Rachel was pretty much ready, having borrowed some of Padma's makeup and padma was hastily applying lipstick by candlelight, the door to the bathroom burst open.

"Are you crazy??" a girl in a sunset coloured dress marched across the bathroom to Padma, looking furious. "the boys and I have been waiting for ages- you were supposed to meet us, but here you are and you're not even ready! basically everyone's already in the hall, and we were going to be early to get good seats for the initial speeches…"

The girl- who looked identical to padma except that her hair was tied up in a pretty knot, and so could only be Padma's sister Parvati– continued in this way until padma managed to interrupt her. "ok, ok! I know- I'm sorry- but look…" she placed the lipstick back in her bag and twirled around. She looked gorgeous. "I'm ready!"

"Well I should hope so!" parvati picked up padma's bag and grabbed her by the arm. padma managed a quick, "come on rachel!" before she was led purposefully over to the bathroom door.

Rachel smiled, despite her nerves about the upcoming dance, picked up her things, and followed them out.


End file.
